Reconstruction In The South :: American History Civil War

Reconstruction in the southwestThis essay will describe the events that occurred following the CivilWar in a period known as Reconstruction. In the South, during this period oftime many people suffered from the great amount of property damage done to such(prenominal)things as farms, factories, railroads and several other things that citizensdepended on to keep their economy strong. Some of these economic hardshipsincluded destruction of the credit system and worthless Confederate money.though statistics in the South were vague the historian E.B. Long, a carefulstudent of warfare strengths suggests perhaps 750,000 individuals would bereasonably a close as an account of Southern enrollments in the armies andnavy.In the South Reconstruction meant rebuilding the economy, establishingnew state and local governments and establishing a new social structure betweenwhites and blacks. During the war Lincoln had expanded his presidency. Withhis power he hoped to set up loyal governments i n the Southern states that wereunder Union control. Lincoln appointed new transient governors and instructedeach to call a convention to wee-wee a new state government as soon as a group ofthe states citizen totaling 10 percent of the voters in the 1860 presidentialelection had signed oaths of loyalty to the Union. Under this plan newgovernments were formed in Louisiana, Tennessee and Arkansas but the Congressrefused to bang them. Republicans in Congress did not want a quickrestoration, for the reason that it would bring Democratic representatives andsenators to Washington, and in 1864 Congress passed the Wade-DavisReconstruction Bill. This bill would have hold up the process of rejoining theUnion until 50 percent of the people took an oath of loyalty but Lincoln pocketvetoed the bill. Abraham Lincoln was assassinated just as the South surrenderedin April 1865, and then Andrew Johnson inherited the problem of Reconstruction.Johnson supported Lincolns plan after taking offic e.Enough Confederates signed these oaths to enable the immediate creationof new governments. Johnson take that the new states ratify the 13thAmendment freeing the slaves, abolish slavery in their own constitutions,discard debts incurred while in rebellion, and declare secession null and void.By the end of 1865 all of the secessionist states but Texas had rejoined theUnion. Radical Republicans in Congress thought they should controlReconstruction and wished to punish the South for causing the Civil War. Someof these Republicans wished to create a Southern society where blacks and whiteswere equal. These Republicans opposed the Southern Black Codes. Black Codeswere harsh local and state laws passed to control blacks in the South after the